diff --git a/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/jsptag/ItemTag.java b/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/jsptag/ItemTag.java
index 1d3194044d6d..5e8c6040cee5 100644
--- a/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/jsptag/ItemTag.java
+++ b/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/jsptag/ItemTag.java
@@ -467,7 +467,9 @@ else if (eq.length > 2)
             
             if (values.length > 0)
             {
-                out.print("<tr><td class=\"metadataFieldLabel\">");
+                String field_class = field.replace('.', '-').replace("*","star" );
+
+                out.print("<tr class='" + field_class + "'> <td class=\"metadataFieldLabel\">");
 
                 String label = null;
                 try
diff --git a/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/servlet/DSpaceServlet.java b/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/servlet/DSpaceServlet.java
index a0063d5b8e80..bbdd0954f62c 100644
--- a/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/servlet/DSpaceServlet.java
+++ b/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/servlet/DSpaceServlet.java
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.sql.SQLException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
 
 import javax.servlet.ServletException;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
@@ -20,6 +22,8 @@
 import org.dspace.app.webui.util.JSPManager;
 import org.dspace.app.webui.util.UIUtil;
 import org.dspace.authorize.AuthorizeException;
+import org.dspace.content.DSpaceObject;
+import org.dspace.core.Constants;
 import org.dspace.core.Context;
 import org.dspace.core.LogManager;
 
@@ -212,4 +216,18 @@ protected void doDSPost(Context context, HttpServletRequest request,
         // indicate that POST is not supported by this servlet.
         super.doGet(request, response);
     }
+
+    protected void setDSpaceObjectAndHandle(Context context, HttpServletRequest request, DSpaceObject dso) throws SQLException {
+        if (dso != null && request.getAttribute("dspaceObject") == null) {
+            request.setAttribute("dspaceObject", dso);
+            List<String> handles = new ArrayList<String>();
+            while (dso != null) {
+                if (dso.getType() != Constants.ITEM){
+                    handles.add(dso.getHandle());
+                }
+                dso = dso.getParentObject();
+            }
+            request.setAttribute("dspaceObject.parents.handles", handles);
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/servlet/HandleServlet.java b/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/servlet/HandleServlet.java
index 5f504a0670fd..f7c42b770f62 100644
--- a/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/servlet/HandleServlet.java
+++ b/dspace-jspui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/webui/servlet/HandleServlet.java
@@ -136,6 +136,8 @@ protected void doDSGet(Context context, HttpServletRequest request,
             return;
         }
 
+        setDSpaceObjectAndHandle(context, request, dso);
+
         if("/statistics".equals(extraPathInfo))
         {
             // Check configuration properties, auth, etc.
diff --git a/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/collection-home.jsp b/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/collection-home.jsp
index c3b020c517b4..1dc75ed53531 100644
--- a/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/collection-home.jsp
+++ b/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/collection-home.jsp
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@
   <p class="copyrightText"><%= copyright %></p>
   
   <%-- Browse --%>
-  <div class="panel panel-primary">
+  <div class="panel panel-primary browse-buttons">
   	<div class="panel-heading">
         <fmt:message key="jsp.general.browse"/>
 	</div>
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@
 	{
 		String key = "browse.menu." + bis[i].getName();
 %>
-	<form method="get" class="btn-group" action="<%= request.getContextPath() %>/handle/<%= collection.getHandle() %>/browse">
+	<form method="get" class="btn-group <%= bis[i].getName() %>" action="<%= request.getContextPath() %>/handle/<%= collection.getHandle() %>/browse">
 		<input type="hidden" name="type" value="<%= bis[i].getName() %>"/>
 		<%-- <input type="hidden" name="collection" value="<%= collection.getHandle() %>" /> --%>
 		<input type="submit" class="btn btn-default" name="submit_browse" value="<fmt:message key="<%= key %>"/>"/>
diff --git a/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/community-home.jsp b/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/community-home.jsp
index 775c47e37d9b..91e15db703a5 100644
--- a/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/community-home.jsp
+++ b/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/community-home.jsp
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@
 </div>	
 
 <%-- Browse --%>
-<div class="panel panel-primary">
+<div class="panel panel-primary browse-buttons">
 	<div class="panel-heading"><fmt:message key="jsp.general.browse"/></div>
 	<div class="panel-body">
    				<%-- Insert the dynamic list of browse options --%>
@@ -211,10 +211,10 @@
 	{
 		String key = "browse.menu." + bis[i].getName();
 %>
-	<form method="get" action="<%= request.getContextPath() %>/handle/<%= community.getHandle() %>/browse">
+	<form method="get" class="btn-group <%= bis[i].getName() %>" action="<%= request.getContextPath() %>/handle/<%= community.getHandle() %>/browse">
 		<input type="hidden" name="type" value="<%= bis[i].getName() %>"/>
 		<%-- <input type="hidden" name="community" value="<%= community.getHandle() %>" /> --%>
-		<input class="btn btn-default col-md-3" type="submit" name="submit_browse" value="<fmt:message key="<%= key %>"/>"/>
+		<input class="btn btn-default " type="submit" name="submit_browse" value="<fmt:message key="<%= key %>"/>"/>
 	</form>
 <%	
 	}
diff --git a/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/layout/header-default.jsp b/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/layout/header-default.jsp
index 523c75c54266..0a2c9c67ad29 100644
--- a/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/layout/header-default.jsp
+++ b/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/layout/header-default.jsp
@@ -40,6 +40,21 @@
     String dsVersion = Util.getSourceVersion();
     String generator = dsVersion == null ? "DSpace" : "DSpace "+dsVersion;
     String analyticsKey = ConfigurationManager.getProperty("jspui.google.analytics.key");
+
+    // use handles of parents as classes on main div
+    // Grab parents from the attributes - these should have been picked up
+    // by the HandleServlet
+    String main_classes = "";
+    {
+
+        if (null != request.getAttribute("dspaceObject.parents.handles")) {
+            List<String> handles = (List<String>) request.getAttribute("dspaceObject.parents.handles");
+
+            for (String hdl : handles) {
+                main_classes = main_classes + " hdl-" + hdl.replace('/', '-');
+            }
+        }
+    }
 %>
 
 <!DOCTYPE html>
@@ -144,8 +159,9 @@
 %>
 </header>
 
-<main id="content" role="main">
-<div class="container banner">
+<main id="content" role="main" class="<%= main_classes%>">
+
+    <div class="container banner">
 	<div class="row">
 		<div class="col-md-9 brand">
 		<h1><fmt:message key="jsp.layout.header-default.brand.heading" /></h1>
diff --git a/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/static/css/bootstrap/dspace-theme.css b/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/static/css/bootstrap/dspace-theme.css
index d0aebd504c0e..8399854e1f6d 100644
--- a/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/static/css/bootstrap/dspace-theme.css
+++ b/dspace-jspui/src/main/webapp/static/css/bootstrap/dspace-theme.css
@@ -105,4 +105,69 @@ span.batchimport-error-tab {
 
 span.batchimport-error-caused {
 	font-weight:bold;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+
+/*
+ The main HTML element on pages that relate to the display of an item, collection, or community
+ is annotated with classes that correspond to the handles of the enclosing collection and community/communities.
+ Handles are 'turned' into classes by prefixing them with 'hdl-' and by replacing '/' with '-'; for example
+ the handle 123456789/abcd becomes the CSS class  hdl-123456789-abcd
+*/
+
+/* hide all browse buttons on a small collection/community by using the class for its handle */
+/* hdl-123456789-3876 corresponds to the handle  123456789/3876 */
+/*
+.hdl-123456789-3874 .browse-buttons {
+	display: none;
+}
+*/
+
+/* hide the subject browse button on the page for the community with handle 123456789/3883,
+   as well as the pages of its collections */
+/*
+.hdl-123456789-3883 .browse-buttons .subject {
+	display: none;
+}
+*/
+
+/* by default: hide the graduation browse button everywhwre */
+/* show the graduation browse button in the senior thesis community with handle 123456789/3875 */
+/*
+.browse-buttons .graduation {
+	display: none;
+}
+
+.hdl-123456-3875 .browse-buttons .graduation {
+	display: block;
+}
+*/
+
+/* Item pages annotate the table rows for metadata values with matching classes:
+   dc.title         matches the class dc-title
+   dc.contributor.* matches the class dc-contributor-star
+   ...
+   the convention is to replace '.' by '-' and '*' by 'star'
+ */
+
+/* style all itemDisplay pages to show author values followed by semicolons and without line breaks */
+/*
+.itemDisplayTable .dc-contributor-star .metadataFieldValue br {
+	display: none;
+}
+.itemDisplayTable .dc-contributor-star .metadataFieldValue a::after {
+	content: "; ";
+}
+*/
+
+/* to style selected metadata values for items in a given collections / communities,
+   prefix CSS rules with the class matching the handle of the collection/community
+ */
+/*
+.hdl-123456789-4028 .itemDisplayTable .dc-relation-isformatof .metadataFieldValue,
+.hdl-123456789-4028 .itemDisplayTable .dc-title .metadataFieldValue {
+	background-color: #f5f5f5;
+	background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #e8e8e8 0px, #f5f5f5 100%);
+	background-repeat: repeat-x;
+}
+*/
\ No newline at end of file